


The Jade Mountain Dance

by onward_came_the_meteors



Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, M/M, Multi, OT3, One Shot, POV Alternating, POV Third Person, Pre-OT3, Pre-Relationship, Ratings: PG, School Dances, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-08 08:58:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21473410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onward_came_the_meteors/pseuds/onward_came_the_meteors
Summary: Instead, Qibli was busy thinking about the dance, which should really just be called a party at this point. Dragons from all over Pyrrhia would be there, but that wasn’t what he was wondering about. He was just wondering if Moon would dance with him if he asked.Ha, ha, he wondered if Winter would dance with him if he asked.....................................Jade Mountain is hosting its first school dance, meaning a night of music, fun, and papayas... and some realizations about Moon, Qibli, and Winter.
Relationships: Moonwatcher/Qibli/Winter (Wings of Fire)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 72





	The Jade Mountain Dance

Now, it was normal for Jade Mountain to be busy. It was a school, after all, which had to hold over thirty students as well as assorted teachers, librarians, and assistants. With so many wildly different dragons in the same place, chaos was going to happen.

But this time, it was just a little crazier than usual.

Okay, a lot crazier.

Why?

It was absolutely Sunny’s fault.

She, Tsunami, Starflight, and Fatespeaker had been gathered in the teachers’ cave one day, discussing their latest field trip and other activities they’d wanted the students to have. And somehow, who knew how or why or who… the idea of a dance had been brought up.

And not just a school dance. Nooooo. Because that wouldn’t have been bad enough already. No, a certain teacher whose name began with “S” and ended with “unny” had made the innocent suggestion that they also invite Glory. 

And that would have made sense, because Glory was their best friend, and was close to a lot of the students at the school, and anyway the rainforest was practically at their doorstep so they might as well invite her… if it weren’t for the fact that if Glory was coming, Deathbringer would be coming.

And if both of them were coming, then more RainWings would want to show up.

And if the RainWings were invited, then the other kingdoms would get jealous.

So, really, why shouldn’t they invite Thorn and her SandWings, since she was Sunny’s mother, and if Sunny’s mother was coming, then Tsunami’s mother would have to be invited, and of course she wasn’t coming without an entourage, and really, why not just invite all the students’ families and be done with it, and wouldn’t it be terribly impolite if none of the other queens were invited…

And that was how the simple idea of a school dance became a Pyrrhia-wide party. And how it was definitely, inarguably, Sunny’s fault.

Oh well. Too late now.

.................................................... 

The night of the dance was exactly three weeks after the original invitations had been sent out. It was classified as “formal attire,” so all the students had scrounged up their best jewelry and ties and were hurriedly putting them on minutes before the start of the dance.

Moon was standing in her sleeping cave, checking over herself in a seashell-encrusted mirror she’d borrowed from Anemone. Her own necklace lay against the ebony scales of her neck, with beads that appeared black at first glance, but revealed swirls of deep green, blue, and purple on closer inspection. She had liked it when she’d first found it—the tiny white specks looked like stars in the night sky—but now she wondered if it was too odd.

Frowning, she put down the mirror. If she was being honest with herself, she really wasn’t worried about her necklace. Rather, the dance itself was making her second-guess. So many dragons. And dancing. Actual dancing.

Maybe she should just stay in her sleeping cave—

“Oh my gosh, you look AMAZING!” squealed a voice from behind her. Moon spun around to see Kinkajou, glowing bright gold with pale pink spirals. The beads on her own necklace perfectly matched.

“So do you!”

“Thanks!” Kinkajou beamed. “Come on, it’s starting any minute! We need to get down there!”

“Now?” Moon gulped. On her top ten list of Things She Would Rather Not Do Right Now, going into that dance room was number one.

“Yeah, now! Let’s go!” Kinkajou practically dragged Moon out of the cave.

I hope I don’t regret this, Moon thought as she stepped into the hallway.

....................................................

In a nearby sleeping cave, an IceWing and a SandWing were also getting ready for the dance. At least… sort of.

“How do you tie this thing?” Qibli muttered to himself, tugging uselessly with the amber piece of fabric hanging in confusing knots around his neck.

Winter sighed. Naturally, his own pale blue tie was already perfectly arranged. He’d been checking it out in the mirror, but upon seeing Qibli, stepped over to help.

“It’s like this,” WInter said, as if it should be the most obvious thing in the world. He untied Qibli’s failed knots and began expertly tying it on. “There.”

“Thanks!” Qibli bounded over to the mirror, blocking Winter’s view.

“Hey!”

Qibli wasn’t listening to him, though. Half of what came out of Winter’s mouth was completely irrelevant, especially if it contained the words “IceWings,” “Queen Glacier,” or “In the Ice Kingdom—.”

Instead, he was busy thinking about the dance, which should really just be called a party at this point. Dragons from all over Pyrrhia would be there, but that wasn’t what he was wondering about. He was just wondering if Moon would dance with him if he asked.

Ha, ha, he wondered if Winter would dance with him if he asked.

Qibli wasn’t a mirror kind of dragon, but he found himself inspecting his reflection for an extra second or two anyway. Maybe fix his earring a little...

“All right, let’s go,” he said abruptly, yanking his thoughts away from that particular quicksand hole.

Winter grumbled but followed him out the door. Had he polished his scales that day? He looked shinier than usual. Kinkajou, of course, would have called it glittery, but Qibli was feeling generous. Even if the way the light hit the white and blue scales was slightly too sparkly to be called a simple shine.

Anyway. Dance.

.................................

In yet another sleeping cave, Umber was bouncing on top of a snoozing SeaWing. This particular SeaWing had decided to take a nap earlier so as not to be too tired for the party, and now… he was a little reluctant to get up.

“Come on, Turtle!” Umber begged. “It’s starting soon! I don’t want to be late!” What he really wanted was to see his siblings, Reed and Pheasant, again. They’d been invited to the party along with the other MudWings—and basically all of Pyrrhia—and he really hoped they’d show up.

And if they did, he didn’t want to miss them.

“Sleeping,” Turtle mumbled.

“No sleeping,” Umber said sternly. “Out.”

“Good bed.”

“Hmm…” Umber got a sneaky idea. “Oh, hi Kinkajou!” he called out to the empty doorway.

“What?” Turtle popped up, looking around wildly before realizing it was a trick. Umber dissolved into giggles. Turtle tossed a pillow at him before rolling to his feet.

Neither of them had put on a tie before, so they gave their best guesses as to how a tie should be worn. Umber’s was plain brown, and Turtle’s was probably originally green, but it was also a who-knows-how-old-hand-me-down from one of his older brothers, so it was more of a faded green-gray. 

As Umber walked out the door, Turtle looked down at his tie and muttered “Fix yourself,” at it. Instantly, the frayed edges mended themselves and the tie straightened.

Who said being an animus wasn’t handy every once in a while?

...................................

Down in the party room, guests were beginning to arrive. The room itself had been just another empty cave a few hours ago, but now it was heavily decorated with streamers and differently colored flowers, and clearly someone (Fatespeaker) had gone a little overboard with the glittery lights. The result was that the room was brightly lit, with a wide dance floor and a table piled with food in the corner. There was also a huge opening in the cave wall that was almost like a natural window, allowing the room to be open to the night sky.

Dragons began to trickle in; the students came from the tunnels, while everyone else came from the entrance cave.

Moon peeked out from her hidden spot just outside the door. “Wow.” There were a LOT of dragons there. What should she even do?

“Well? What’re you waiting for?” Kinkajou exclaimed, leaping into the room. Moon followed much more slowly.

The dance floor was completely empty, the crowds of dragons choosing instead to make small talk on either side. As the students continued to wander in, Coconut spotted the food table and made a beeline for it, hunting through the fruit pile for papayas.

Moon cast a longing look back at the doorway, but as she did, Qibli and Winter came through it, followed closely by Turtle and Umber.

Moon smiled and was about to say “Hi” when Kinkajou cried “Oh, look, it’s Tamarin!” and yanked Moon in the other direction.

Moon was pulled over to a small alcove, where Tamarin was standing with Sora, Ostrich, and Anemone. The dragonets were all nervously complimenting each other and occasionally shooting glances (besides Tamarin) at the still-empty dance floor.

“Hi!” Kinkajou greeted. “Oooh, Tamarin, I love your necklace!”

“Thanks, Kinkajou.” Tamarin smiled. Her necklace was gold, with a small blue flower pattern on each bead. “I bet yours is pretty too.” Kinkajou stepped forward to let her feel the round beads.

“It is,” offered Ostrich. “Really pretty.”

“Thanks! So’s yours!”

“Yeah, it is all right,” Anemone interrupted. “But I got stuck with these ugly pearls again.”

“They’re not ugly, what are you talking about?” Ostrich asked.

Why is it that all we’re talking about is how nice everyone looks, Moon wondered.

Thankfully, the conversation was interrupted by Tsunami, who was hovering a few feet off the ground in the center of the room. “Attention!” she announced, beating her wings impatiently until every dragon was facing her. “I would just like to welcome everyone to Jade Mountain’s first official dance! The music should start soon—” here she waved to the small group of dragonets with assorted instruments hanging out in a corner, “—but until then, feel free to enjoy the party!”

Everyone sort of half heartedly clapped, as though they were unsure whether or not they were supposed to, before it fizzled out and everyone went right back to doing what they were doing. Tsunami shrugged like "oh well, I tried," and flew over to Sunny and Clay.

Cheers erupted from the food table, and Moon realized that a group of students—including Turtle, Umber, and Mightyclaws—were gathered around it to watch Coconut try to fit as many papayas as he could in his mouth.

So she guessed this was what a dance was, then. Not really what she expected—

“Anemone!”

“Oh no,” Anemone muttered, before steeling herself and turning around to find, yes, Queen Coral hurrying over to them. Most of the parents were minding their own business and talking amongst themselves instead of trying to find their dragonets, but not Queen Coral.

“I’ve missed you so much!” the queen cried as she enveloped Anemone in a tight hug. Anemone’s younger sister, Auklet, was bouncing around their feet, attached to Coral by a harness.

“Mother, let me breathe,” Anemone complained, her voice muffled from underneath Coral’s wings. “Tsunami’s over there, you know, why can’t you bother her.” That last part was said too quietly for the queen to hear, and she simply loosened her grip a little and started talking about how lonely she had been without Anemone, and was she all right here at the school, and did she feel safe, and on and on.

Apparently, the rest of the parents and other assorted outside dragons took this as a cue that since Coral was being so embarrassing toward Anemone, they could all do the same to their dragonets. Dragons and dragonets started to mix for the first time since the dance had begun.

Moon began to look around for her mother, but before she could, a cry from Kinkajou alerted her to the fact that “Queen Glory is here!”

Sure enough, the RainWing queen was also in the midst of the crowd, trailed a little too closely by Deathbringer, her bodyguard, and Jambu, her brother.

Tsunami reached her first. “Hey, Glory.”

“Hi, Tsunami,” Glory replied. A flicker of deep navy edged along the scales of her neck “You know this conversation isn’t going to last that long without an argument, right?”

“Naturally,” Tsunami agreed. “But we can’t have that.”

“It would make us look unprofessional in front of all these dragons.”

“Why don’t you cause a distraction and we call it a night?”

“Excellent idea.” Glory turned. “Hi, Kinkajou!”

“Queen Glory!” Kinkajou exclaimed. “I didn’t know you were coming!”

“All of Pyrrhia came, you think I’d miss it? It’s true though, somebody didn’t want to let me come.” Glory flicked her tail at Deathbringer. “It’s hilarious, it’s like he thinks I’m not in charge of him.”

“Would it be so terrible for you to be safe?” Deathbringer said dramatically. “I’m here for a reason, you know.”

“To annoy me to death? Cause that feels like kind of the opposite of your job,” Glory pointed out. “You’re doing a great job of it, though.”

“Why thank you.”

“Let’s go find my mother,” Moon whispered to Kinkajou, who nodded.

“Good idea.”

The two of them squeezed through the crowds, finding a lot of dragons but no NightWings named Secretkeeper. Instead, they bumped into a SandWing named Qibli.

“Oh, hi, Moon!” he said, turning around upon noticing her. He had been talking with Thorn, Six-Claws, and some other SandWings—most likely Outclaws—that Moon didn’t know. There were so many of them, though, that it didn’t matter if he talked to the two of them for a moment. “Hey, Kinkajou.”

“Hi.”

“Qibli, are these your friends?” Thorn appeared at Qibli’s shoulder. Moon could see the queen’s resemblance to Sunny. “I told you going to school was a good idea.”

“But I’d rather be protecting you— Qibli started. 

“—which is not your job.”

“Isn’t it?”

Moon sensed an ongoing argument.

“Anyway,” Thorn said, bumping against Qibli’s wing. “I think I’m going to go find my daughter. Have fun!” She disappeared into the crowd.

“Sure,” Qibli joked once she was gone. “Leave, just when I’m winning the argument!”

“I’m glad you came to Jade Mountain, though,” Moon said.

“Yeah, so am I.”

“Where’s Winter?” Kinkajou spoke up. “Did he go find some other IceWings?”

“No, I'm right here.” Winter materialized from the crowd, apparently having been awkwardly hovering near Qibli while he talked to Thorn.

“What are you doing here with us commoners instead of the other IceWings?” Qibli teased. “Didn’t Queen Glacier come?”

“She came.” Winter jerked a glance over to the other side of the room, then quickly away, as though he was annoyed at himself for looking in the first place. Moon followed his gaze and spotted a shimmering mass of haughty-looking IceWings—really not that many, but it felt like more just because Moon had never seen more than five IceWings in the same room before—surrounding Queen Glacier. Among them were Icicle and Hailstorm, trailing a pair of dragons she assumed were Winter’s parents. 

She looked back at Winter, who was resolutely staying where he was. In fact, he looked like joining the rest of his tribe was the last thing he wanted to do. Noticing Qibli, who looked like he was about to continue on his theme of Winter-teasing, she decided to redirect the conversation.

Luckily, help arrived in the form of Turtle. “Hi,” he said simply.

“Hi, Turtle! Your mother’s over there in case you were looking for her,” Kinkajou said, pointing over to Queen Coral, who had ensnared Anemone and brought her over to the cavalcade of SeaWings entering the party area. 

“Don’t worry, I’m not,” Turtle assured her. “She doesn’t know who I am.”

Across the room, the band lifted their instruments and began to play. The song was lively and upbeat, but the sudden dead silence of every dragon in the room would have made Moon think it was a funeral lament.

Everyone stared at each other, some twitching from side to side, as if the music was a sudden awakening for them all to realize they were, in fact, at a dance.

The silence… stretched… on… and… 

“Well?” Kinkajou’s voice popped up like a mushroom in the soggy silence of the cave. “Isn’t anyone going to dance?”

Silence. Someone coughed. The music continued to play, but some of the musicians looked a bit hesitant, like they weren’t sure they were supposed to be doing that.

Kinkajou shrugged and turned to Turtle. “Want to dance?”

The SeaWing could have spontaneously mutated into an astoundingly realistic stone statue of himself and nobody would have noticed. “You mean… me?”

“Yeah!” Kinkajou waited for a moment, looking at her claws. “If you want to.”

Turtle nodded. “I would… like to. Er, thanks? Are you supposed to say tha—”

Kinkajou’s scales exploded in fireworks of pink. The two of them swirled onto the dance floor and started to dance, carefully moving along with the music.

And if neither of them knew how to dance, and Kinkajou kept stepping on Turtle’s talons, and if Turtle kept losing track of which direction he was supposed to be going in…

It didn’t really matter.

.................................

Deathbringer looked at Glory. “May I interest you in an opportunity to dance with Pyrrhia’s greatest assassin, Your Majesty?”

“That sounds dangerous.” Glory smiled. “Let me ask my bodyguard first to make sure it’s safe.” 

..............................

“Fatespeaker? Um. I have… a question.”

A rustle of movement to his left. The sound of her setting down a scroll.

“Yeah?”

The music from the cave below was pounding upward through the library floor, each beat a tremor in the rock.

“The dance started, and I was wondering if you’d like to… join me?”

A tail twined around his own. “Starflight,” Fatespeaker said, and he could hear the smile in her voice. “I’d love to.”

...................................

“I’ll burn someone, Clay, it’s really not worth it.” Peril gazed in front of her at the sprawling crowd, only a few of which were actually dancing despite the continuous music. Those musicians should really be more appreciated. If she were one of them, she’d have stopped playing ten minutes ago.

Then again, if she were one of them, she’d set fire to her instrument.

“You should be able to enjoy tonight just like everyone else here,” Clay insisted. 

Oh that stubborn MudWing could he not understand how much she wanted to TACKLE him all the time but not in a mean way obviously, like a friendly way, like a little-more-than-friend-way—

She sighed and gestured to her scales. “Talons. Burning. Just a fact. It’ll be a miracle if there aren’t scorched talonprints in the floor…”

Clay smiled, in that wonderful way he had of making her feel warm all over, and not in a firescales kind of way. “Who said we’d be on the floor?”

...................................

As the dance floor rapidly filled up, talons entwining and wings twirling and tails whirling through the air, Umber sat quietly by the food table. Mightyclaws was next to him, tracing a messy doodle with his talons on a coconut shell. 

The music was… well, he could only describe it as the most exhilarating thing in Pyrrhia. It thrummed through the blood of every dragon in the cave, pulsing one moment and shivering the next, fluttering through the air like the wings of thousands of butterflies.

And Umber wanted to be a part of it.

“Hey, Mightyclaws?” The NightWing looked up, and Umber suddenly felt about ten billion degrees more nervous than he’d been five seconds previous. “You, um, want to dance with me?”

Mightyclaws carefully set the coconut shell aside. He nodded, once, a slow grin spread over his face, and Umber thought that music might not be the most exhilarating thing in Pyrrhia after all.

.........................................

Before long, almost every dragon was on the dance floor. Queen Coral had picked Auklet up and was swaying slowly. Anemone, Ostrich, and Tamarin were all moving as one, giggling every time one of their tails got tangled in their dance. Mindreader was twisting around by herself, wings waving to the beat. Tsunami had found Riptide, but rather than dancing, they were just whispering to each other on the sidelines. All thirty-one SeaWing princes were somehow crammed into the cave, and hang on a minute is that one dancing with Hailstorm? 

Moon, Qibli, and Winter were still gathered together on the outskirts of the party where they’d started, watching the scene play out before them. 

Finally, Moon took a breath. “Do you want to dance?”

Qibli went still, while Winter immediately knocked an arrangement of flowers out of an alcove with his tail. 

“Um,” he started, sweeping pieces of flower out of the way, “who are you talking to?”

Was she really going to…

Yes. Yes, she was.

Moon didn’t know how to say it how could she say it whatever she said was going to come out wrong but she had to say something oh great now they were looking at her weird they were going to think she was crazy—

“There’s no reason I can’t dance with both of you,” Moon blurted out before her brain could even fully think the words.

Neither of them answered for a moment. Then Qibli spoke up.

“Like, at the same time?”

Moon nodded. 

“Yeah,” Qibli said softly. “Yeah, I would like that.”

Winter released a tense breath. “So—so would I,” he said, his eyes flicking over both Moon and Qibli before stepping out onto the dance floor. He turned around, looking afraid for a second that no one would follow, but—

Moon and Qibli joined him, and the three of them slowly began to dance. The rest of the crowd faded into background noise. Moon had no idea what she was doing, but she just sort of moved around to the music. Winter seemed to be a little more familiar, but his movements were still stiff. Qibli, on the other talon, was doing it perfectly, a ball of energy and motion.

“You’re good at this,” Moon marveled.

Qibli shrugged. “Lots of parties in the Scorpion Den.” Getting a mischievous glint in his eye, he sidled over to Winter and spun the IceWing around before he could register what he was doing.

Winter didn’t even speak when he was done, just stared at Qibli open-mouthed. Moon giggled.

“Don’t kill me,” Qibli teased. 

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Winter finally gasped. To Moon’s surprise, he was actually smiling.

“See, I knew I was your best friend.”

“In what universe does ‘I’m not planning to kill you’ translate as ‘we’re best friends?’”

“Yeah, Qibli,” Moon twirled around the two of them, sliding her tail over both of theirs. “What happened to ‘can’t trust a royal?’”

“I do need to change my earlier phrase,” Qibli admitted, flaring his wings. “How about ‘can’t trust a royal unless you’re best friends with them?’”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Winter said. “And we’re not friends.”

Qibli took a step closer. “Aren’t we?”

“I don’t think so, no,” Winter said softly. 

“Oh,” Qibli breathed. Maybe Moon should have felt excluded, but she didn’t. She felt more a part of this than anything else in her life.

The feeling only increased when both Qibli and Winter turned around to spin her, and she tripped over Winter’s tail, and all three of them were laughing, and yeah, other dragons were staring at them, maybe their teachers, maybe Thorn, maybe Winter’s family.

But it didn’t matter.

.....................................

After forever and five seconds, the song finally ended, giving way to one that was brighter and more energetic, less for dancing with someone and more for dancing with someone.

Moon, Qibli, and Winter were joined by the rest of Jade Winglet, as well as a couple others, and bounced around in a big group. Whenever one of them got tired, they relocated to the food table, which a considerable dent had been put in since the start of the party.

“I’m not saying it was Coconut,” Kinkajou whispered to Moon as they each took some fruit, “but it was Coconut.”

Song after song after song, and somehow it was midnight.

The dragons began to disperse, especially the ones from farther kingdoms, like the IceWings, or ones with younger dragonets, like Queen Coral. Tsunami, Sunny, and the other teachers stood at the door and thanked everybody for coming as they left.

The musicians set down their instruments, and Coconut shoved the last papaya in his mouth. 

Winter shot a suspicious glance over at him as he did so. Was it just the lighting, or did the RainWing’s scales look shinier than usual?

Oh well…

“Bye, everyone,” Glory called, earning herself a hug from Sunny. Her scales were mostly deep blue, but as the night went on, more and more pink had emerged. 

“Be sure to write,” Starflight joked. Glory rolled her eyes. 

“Deathbringer?”

“Right here, Your Majesty.” Deathbringer smiled as the two of them exited the cave with tails twined. 

Across the room, Queen Coral was having trouble persuading Auklet to leave. The tiny SeaWing had been yawning earlier, but as soon as her mother had told her it was time to go, she’d started shrieking.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Auklet cried. “Not tired! Want’a stay with Tsu-na-mi!”

“It’s past your bedtime, little one,” Coral admonished, scooping her up. She exchanged a few words with Tsunami before flying into the night, trailed by the whole mass of Turtle’s brothers.

“Ah, dragonets. So entertaining,” Qibli remarked.

Moon poked him. “You’re still a dragonet.”

“Exactly.”

After Tsunami yelled at all the students to “get to bed already what are you all still doing here” the Jade Winglet finally left the room and began to walk to their sleeping caves.

“Wasn’t that fun? That was so fun!” KInkajou’s scales were beginning to dim to a sleepy blue, but the smile on her face was still enormous. 

“Definitely. Just—one—problem—” Qibli tugged at his tie. “How do you get this thing off of me.” Yank. Yank. “Winter help.”

Winter rolled his eyes and stepped forward to untie it. “Honestly, it’s not that hard.” 

He turned around to see both Turtle and Umber struggling with their own ties. “Seriously?”

.................................

Much later than she’d have preferred—honestly, she was a NightWing, why was she tired—Moon was in her sleeping cave, curled up on her bed of rainforest moss.

Kinkajou swung on her hammock, still enchanted by the party. “Turtle danced with me. Did you see?”

“I did.” Moon stifled a smile.

“D’you think he likes me?”

“I’d honestly be surprised if he didn’t.”

Kinkajou laughed. “Thanks!” A pause. “So what were you doing during the whole…” she waved a talon around vaguely. “...thing.”

“Dancing.”

“... okay, I’m going to sound like a terrible friend, and I’m sorry in advance, but… with Qibli or Winter?”

“You’re not a terrible friend.” Moon sat up. “It’s actually completely understandable.”

“So…”

“There was no ‘or.’ I danced with both of them. We all danced… together.”

Kinkajou nodded. “That’s great!”

“It’s not… weird?”

“Nah. Happens all the time in the rainforest. Actually, this one time, I was talking to Jambu, right? And he said…”

Moon fell back asleep to the sound of Kinkajou rambling on, a smile ghosting across her face.

.................................

Back in his own sleeping cave, Winter untied his tie in front of the mirror. His scales were much less shiny than they’d been a few hours ago. He would have put some more scaleshine on, but for some reason, it was missing.

His first instinct would typically have been Qibli, but the SandWing had never shown any interest in shinier scales. Which was fine, because even without scaleshine, Qibli always looked—

Anyway.

And Moon, her scales were already such a beautiful--

Anyway.

Winter pulled the loose tie off his neck and tossed it onto a little ledge they used for storing things. He yawned. That dance had gone late, and even his IceWing training couldn’t alleviate it.

Just then, there came a knock at the cave wall outside their room. Winter turned around in confusion as Qibli got up to check it out.

A dragon was standing in front of the doorway. A RainWing, in fact. 

“Coconut?” Qibli asked. “Um, hi, but what are you—”

“Oh, hey Qibli,” Coconut interrupted. “Where’s Winter?”

“Um.” Qibli leaned back to catch Winter’s eye. “Winter? There’s a dragon here to see you.”

Winter joined Qibli at the doorway. “Yes?”

Coconut held out a small pot. Winter’s scaleshine.

How was Coconut the one to steal his scaleshine?

“Here’s your scaleshine,” Coconut said, somewhat unnecessarily. 

“You stole it?” was all Winter could really think of to say.

“Here’s your scaleshine,” Coconut repeated.

“Okay, okay. I guess all’s forgiven, or whatever.” Winter took the scaleshine. “Er, maybe don’t take it again or—”

“Here’s your scaleshine.” Coconut was now holding out empty air.

“I already took the scaleshine.”

“Here’s your scaleshine.”

“I am holding the scaleshine in my talons right now.”

“Here’s your scaleshine.”

“You can leave now.”

“Here’s your scaleshine.”

Winter finally took a step back, setting the scaleshine on a ledge and looking helplessly at Qibli, who just shrugged.

Slowly, both of them returned to their beds, listening with faint horror to Coconut, still standing out in the hall and repeating “Here’s your scaleshine.”

“I don’t think all those papayas have had the best effect on his brain,” Qibli whispered. 

Eventually, Tsunami came by on her nightly patrol of the hallways. From in their beds, Winter and Qibli could hear her "telling Coconut to go to bed" (read: yelling at Coconut), "because it was late" (read: because otherwise he would get detention for a month and what are you doing in the hallway anyway you crazy RainWing).

It was quiet.

Winter stared up at the ceiling in the dark. “Qibli?” he whispered.

A rustle. “Yeah?”

“I—I really liked dancing with you and Moon. We should… you know, do it again.”

He heard something that could have been a relieved laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, we should. Good night, Winter.”

“Good night, Qibli.”

And good night, Moon, he thought, wondering if the thought could somehow travel through the tunnels into Moon's sleeping cave. 

It was late. And they were tired. And they were in bed.

But tomorrow, they could figure this whole thing out. 

And who knew, maybe there would be another dance.

Maybe less chaotic this time.

If that was possible for a school as busy as Jade Mountain.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
